This past week we saw some excitement in the genealogy world. For those of us who are genealogy bloggers and trying to keep up with the ever-changing social makeup of the internet scene, the introduction of Genealogy Wise from the folks at Family Link certainly made us sit up and take notice.
Genealogy Wise is dubbing itself as the new social network for genealogists. I was excited about the premise. However, the reality soon set in that I was going to have to add one more task to my day. I am on Facebook, but I only randomly check in, I have signed up for Twitter but have yet to Tweet. I currently subscribe to several e-newsletters from some of my favourite genealogy bloggers; it seems to be my media of choice for keeping up on the latest news. However, I have been known to let them pile up in my inbox from time to time.
I have often sat staring at my home page on Facebook contemplating what to type in the ‘What’s on your mind’ box. Typed in my remarks read it back and then immediately hit the backspace button all the while thinking who cares. I guess I belong to a group of us that feel that maybe what’s going on in our personal lives just wouldn’t seem somehow interesting enough to others. I am guilty of using Facebook to brag about my children or the occasional posting of some minutely exciting thing that I may find relevant enough to share. Actually, I have used it to chase down distant relatives for some genealogy questions, as well hassle my delinquent cousins who haven’t sent me pictures for the family history book and I do keep in touch with family and friends that I don’t see often.
However, when news of Genealogy Wise arrived in my inbox, I felt that maybe somehow this might be different. Let’s face it; we will all have the same thing in common, our love of genealogy. We may learn a thing or two from each other. So I signed up on Genealogy Wise but I have yet to do too much with it. It’s on my priority list this week.
So let me know what you think? Are you on Facebook, Genealogy Wise or Twitter? How are you making it all work for you? How do you use these social networking sites to further your genealogy interests? Any tricks, tips or comments you would like to share, I would love to hear your thoughts.
